Austin, Texas ? When the season started, the Texas Longhorns were Chance Mock’s team and riding high with national title hopes.

Two losses later, they were Vince Young’s team when it became clear he was too good to keep off the field. A four-game winning streak followed.

Then came the Mock Miracle, the game-winning drive against Texas Tech that kept the sixth-ranked Longhorns (9-2) in the race for the Bowl Championship Series. A win Friday over Texas A&M (4-7) leaves Texas in prime position for a BCS bid.

One thing is certain about Texas’ quarterback carousel: It’s entertaining both on the field and as an intriguing story. The controversial Chris Simms-Major Applewhite era will be remembered in Austin for a long time.

No one has been calling this year’s QB combo a controversy. Far from it.

Coach Mack Brown said when the season started that he would play both quarterbacks and praised them publicly for supporting each other. The sports information department huddled them as a pair to address reporters together after the first game.

The first crack in the happy atmosphere appeared this week. Mock acknowledged that he might transfer after the season to seek more playing time at another school. Mock wants to play in the NFL and believes he needs more snaps to show what he can do.

He told the Austin American-Statesman that he wouldn’t pursue the matter until after the season and added that he could decide to stay at Texas.

“I don’t want to be a distraction,” Chance Mock said. “Right now, I’m a Texas Longhorn … I’m looking for every reason possible to stay.”

His father, Mike Mock, told the Associated Press that his son was “considering options.”

Texas freshman quarterback Vince Young, left, congratulates junior quarterback Chance Mock (5), who engineered the final touchdown in their 43-40 victory over Texas Tech. Mock came off the bench in the victory Nov. 15 in Austin, Texas.

“He has to. It’s logical,” Mike Mock said. “There’s nothing that’s been decided.”

While the Simms-Applewhite era had a constant undercurrent of tension, this season started quietly because neither player had proved himself.

Mock was the starter because he was the junior who had three years to learn the system. A better pure passer than the redshirt freshman Young, he led Texas to a 4-1 record even as Young showed his brilliance as a runner and slowly picked up playing time.

It was a 24-20 win over Kansas State that vaulted Young into a starring role. After limping off the field in the third quarter after what looked like a serious ankle twist, he returned late in the fourth to lead the game-winning drive.

Young stretched over the goal line on 4th-and-inches for the winning score.

“If we hadn’t made it,” Brown said. “Ya’ll would have fired me.”

Mock started the next week in a 65-13 loss to Oklahoma and Young took over from there. With his running ability driving the offense and his passing improving, Texas ran off four straight lopsided wins.

Mock’s playing time was so drastically reduced over the last six weeks that he played only one series in Texas’ 55-16 win at Oklahoma State.

Then came Mock’s Miracle where, with one series, he carved his name in Texas lore.

Young had led Texas to a 35-21 lead with his best passing night of the season with 213 yards and two touchdowns. Mock even persuaded Brown to not put him in the game as planned in the first half because Young was doing so well.

“In 20 years, I’ve never had that happen,” Brown said. “What I thought was ‘He really wants to win.”‘

But Young struggled as the game wore on and Tech rallied to take a 40-35 lead with 2:03 left.

That’s when Brown turned to Mock. With Texas’ BCS hopes hanging in the balance, it was the boldest move of the coach’s six years in Austin. It caused a murmur through the crowd of 83,000 that would have turned into howls of protest if it failed.

Only it didn’t fail. With no timeouts and hardly any time to warm up, Mock drove Texas 86 yards in seven plays and threw the winning touchdown pass to B.J. Johnson with 46 seconds left.

“This is a game that our fans and players will talk about for the rest of the time that we play football at the University of Texas,” Brown said.

“This whole season has been an emotional roller coaster,” Mock said. I’ve had ups and downs from my first start to losing the job after Oklahoma. To come back like this has been memorable. And a lot of fun.”

Not so fun that he won’t consider making changes. Mock said this week that although he wants to graduate from Texas, he would consider transferring because he wants to play in the NFL and believes he needs more snaps to show what he can do.

Young, who remains the starter, said he it didn’t bother him that Mock was called on to win the game.

“When I heard Chance was going in, I went up to him and said ‘Go in there and finish it,”‘ Young said. “I was proud. I hugged and applauded him like he does me.”

Told that his game-winning drive made Brown look like a genius, Mock cracked a smile.

“I guess that’s my job,” he said.